Saturday, 11 February 2017

For years, Keela was a star of the British Media. The dog from South Yorkshire Police had outstanding capacities, described in her own page, on the web site of that police force: "She (Keela) screens textiles and can pick out clothing with blood on even after it has been washed many times in biological washing powder. Offenders can’t even trick her by trying to clean their weapons, as Keela would still smell blood after attempts have been made to wash away the evidence."

A story run by The Sun, on December 2005, called Keela "UK's number one Sherlock bones". Keela was hailed as "Britain most amazing police dog", so amazing that her "salary" was higher that the one of her chief constable: "Springer spaniel Keela is so smart she is hired by other forces for £530 a day plus expenses. That is a rate of £200,000 a year, compared to the £129,963 paid to South Yorkshire’s top cop Med Hughes."

But on September 2008, the tide had turned and The Sun had another front page story, with this headline: "It’s crazy to rely on animals". What has changed, between 2005 and 2008? Keela was one of the two dogs (Eddie was the other) brought to Praia da Luz, to try to find what happened to Madeleine McCann.